Four things learned from Gophers men’s basketball team’s frustrating home loss to Washington

Dawson Garcia ended a second consecutive home game with a dunk for the Gophers, but there was no court-storm celebration Saturday.

Washington, the Big Ten’s last-place team, ruined Garcia’s 28-point performance and chance to lead his team to a third consecutive victory at Williams Arena by defeating the Gophers 71-68.

Garcia is setting the bar higher in the best season of his career. He has seven 20-point games in a row, which hasn’t been done for the Gophers since Kris Humphries did it in 2003-04.

But he’s had to deal with tough times, too, including down the stretch Saturday.

Garcia missed the first of two free throws with seven seconds left and the Gophers trailing 69-66. That led to him intentionally missing the second shot, hoping for an offensive rebound and three-point shot, but Washington snagged the board and sealed the win at the foul line.

The Gophers (11-11, 3-8 Big Ten) would not have been close to pulling the game out without Garcia’s 23 points in the second half, so it is hard to cite his missed free throws — he went 8-for-12 in the second half — as the reason for defeat.

As a team, the Gophers missed eight free throws; seven came in the second half, hampering their attempt to rally.

“They went to the line and they made their free throws,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said about the Huskies, who shot 18-for-21. “All those things are details that are important when you’re trying to win.”

Here are four things learned from the loss to Washington:

The battle of All-Big Ten preseason big men went in favor of Garcia against Washington’s Great Osobor, but it wasn’t as one-sided as the individual scoring suggested.

Garcia had only five points in 10 minutes in the first half while sitting with two fouls, but he put on one of his most spectacular offensive efforts in the second half. He shot 7-for-8 from the field in the half and scored 14 consecutive points to help the Gophers erase a 10-point deficit.

Osobor, too, was limited by foul trouble in the first half, playing only nine minutes. He still posted strong statistics for the game: 16 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

The 6-9 senior made his biggest contribution in the clutch with a tip-in shot, steal and forced turnover on Garcia in the last 90 seconds to give Washington the lead for good.

The Gophers just aren’t the same when their backcourt is severely outplayed, which was a major factor Saturday.

The three-guard starting lineup of Lu’Cye Patterson, Mike Mitchell Jr. and Femi Odukale combined for only 20 points on 7-for-20 shooting. They had 11 assists and six steals but also seven turnovers.

Even with Isaac Asuma’s eight points off the bench, Minnesota’s entire backcourt was outscored 50-28.

Washington’s Tyler Harris entered Saturday averaging only 7.7 points in his past eight games, with only two double-figure games in that stretch. Harris broke his slump with 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting Saturday, including 4-for-4 from three-point range.

Harris was a big part of the scouting report, but there were miscues defensively that gave him open looks early. He had 15 points in the first half.

“You have to force a team that’s not shooting well to miss,” Johnson said. “Going into the game, we knew he was a good shooter. We did not want to give him any air space.”

During their three-game win streak, the Gophers outrebounded Oregon and Iowa and also controlled the glass against Michigan during their second-half comeback.

They also won the battle of the boards against Ohio State and Maryland in tight losses last month.

Just when you thought the Gophers were matching the physicality of the Big Ten, they were outrebounded 40-22 at Michigan State and 33-25 vs. Washington. The Spartans and Huskies totaled 29 offensive rebounds and 22 second-chance points in those games.

Imagine if Asuma hadn’t led the Gophers with all of his eight points in the first half Saturday. The Huskies likely would’ve led by more than 10 points at halftime.

The 6-3 freshman from Cherry was pretty much the entire offense for the Gophers when Garcia was in foul trouble.

In the past two games, Asuma made plays for the Gophers in the first half but didn’t play as much after halftime. He had eight points in Tuesday’s 22-point loss at Michigan State, but he only played eight minutes in the second half. He went in for a few seconds, seemingly for defensive purposes, late in the second half Saturday against Washington.

Johnson said he wanted to roll with his experienced guards against the Huskies in the second half.

“It was nothing he didn’t do,” Johnson said of Asuma. “When we were able to chip away at the lead, it was kind of a momentum thing with the group that was in there.”